Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had a chance to keep one of the NBA’s most remarkable scoring runs alive. Instead, he chose to step aside.
The Oklahoma City Thunder guard finished with 17 points in a 96-84 home win over the Denver Nuggets, ending his streak of 20-point games at 141 regular-season contests. The streak had stretched nearly two years, dating back to Oct. 30, 2024, and in March he had already passed Wilt Chamberlain for the longest such run in NBA history.
But the final chapter came in a game the Thunder had already put away.
With Oklahoma City ahead 93-76 and 1:43 left, Gilgeous-Alexander asked to come out during a timeout and did not return. The decision left him three points short of extending the streak to 142 straight games, but he framed it as a matter of respect rather than record-chasing.
“You always treat the game with respect,” Gilgeous-Alexander said.
He added, “God willing, I have many more games to start another streak, so.”
The sequence mattered because it was not a case of a player being forced off the floor by injury or foul trouble. Gilgeous-Alexander had the opportunity to stay in and chase the number, but instead matched the game’s flow. As he explained it, “I was going to go out there, and then I saw that [the Nuggets] had subbed, so I thought we should sub, too.”
Thunder coach Mark Daigneault praised the choice, calling it a reflection of the perspective Gilgeous-Alexander showed in the moment.
“I just think of the class that it shows and the perspective that it shows for him to say, ‘Hey, I’m out now. The game’s calling for me to be subbed out,’” Daigneault said.
The streak ending also came after an uneven night for Gilgeous-Alexander by his standards. He shot 6 of 19 from the field and missed all seven of his shots in the first half, a rare drought for a player who had been so steady for so long. It was only the fourth time in 450 games with the Thunder that he went without a field goal in a half.
Even so, he still helped set the tone early in the third quarter, scoring the first basket of the period to bring Oklahoma City within two points at 48-46 before the Thunder pulled away.
For a player who had just spent 141 games clearing 20 points every night, the ending was unusual. For Gilgeous-Alexander, though, the choice was simple: the streak could wait.